Automatic record changer



Nov. 19, 1968 J. T. DENNIS 3,411,791

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United States Patent 3,411,791 AUTOMATIC RECORD CHANGER James T. Dennis, 812 American National Bldg., Oklahoma City, Okla. 73102 Application Jan. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 168,305, which is a continuation of abandoned application Ser. No. 752,969,

Aug. 4, 1958. Divided and this application Mar. 31,

1966, Ser. No. 539,049

17 Claims. (Cl. 274-10) `ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An automatic record changer in which the turntable is stopped during the record changing cycle and as the record is deposited thereon. A slip clutch arrangement is provided to bring the turntable smoothly up to speed again. Automatic control of the turntable speed is provided in response to (1) the size of the record released, (2) the movement of the tone arm and stylus selected for play, and (3) use of a 45 r.p.m. adaptor for large center hole records. An anti-skate arrangement is provided to prevent the tone arm from skipping inwardly over the initial grooves of the record. Manual speed selection may be made by a common control knob at any time. A velocity tripping mechanism is provided which initiates a record changing cycle with low needle pressure and places substantially no load on the tone arm during the playing cycle. The position of the balance arm can disable the automatic tripping mechanism.

` automatic record changer for phonograph apparatus.

In present day automatic record changers the records to be played are usually supported in a stack on the centering spindle of the changer and are individually deposited onto the turntable of the changer during successive record changing cycles. During these record changing cycles the turntable is continuously rotated and as a result when a record is dropped onto another record already on the rotating turntable the records scrape and grind against one another with considerable damage to the playing surfaces of the records. This is' particularly noticeable in the case of high iidelity installations wherein even the dropping of a record on the rotating turntable itself, which is usually provided with a rubber mat, produces noticeable damage to the playing surface of the record due to the sliding of the record with respect to the upper surface of the turntable as the record is brought up to the speed of the rotating turntable.

It is, therefore, one of the important objects of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which substantial protection is provided for the records as they are deposited on the turntable during the record changing cycle.

llt is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which substantial protection is provided for the records which are deposited on the turntable by stopping the turntable during the record changing cycle so that the record which is deposited does not grind or scrape over the records already on the turntable or the upper surface of the turntable itself.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which rotation of the turntable is terminated during at least a ice portion of the record changing cycle while providing automatic record changing means for moving the tone arm and positioning the records in sequence on the turntable during successive record changing cycles.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which a brake is applied to the turntable during the record changing cycle to stop the turntable and prevent wear on the records as they are deposited on the turntable during successive record changing cycles.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which the turntable is automatically brought smoothly to a standstill during the iirst part of the record changing cycle and is brought smoothly to the desired speed during the last part of the record changing cycle after the record has been deposited on the turntable.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which the turntable is automatically brought to a standstill during the first portion of the record changing cycle and at substantially the end of the record changing cycle is automatically brought to the playing speed of the record deposited on the turntable during the same record changing cycle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which the turntable is automatically brought to a standstill during the first portion of the record changing cycle and here is provided means responsive to the size of the record deposited on the turntable for thereafter automatically bringing the turntable to the playing speed of the dcposited record.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer in which the turntable is lautomatically brought to a standstill during the iirst portion of each record changing cycle and there is provided means responsive to the size of the needle .selected to engage the record for thereafter automatically bringing the turntable to the playing speed of the record deposited on the turntable during the same record changing cycle.

In most, if not all, of the present day Iautomatic record changers, the record changer is automatic only in the sense that it deposits records on the turntable of the record changer and positions the tone arm for playing the new record and these changes do not include facilities for changing the speed of the turntable automatically. In my copending application Ser. No. 404,191, filed Jan. 15, 1954, now U.S. Patent No. 2,956,830, there is disclosed a fully automatic record changer in which the speed of the turntable is automatically adjusted to the playing speed of the record deposited on the turntable. While the arrangement disclosed in my copending application is entirely suitable for its intended purpose, in some instances it may be desirable to incorporate in the record changer facilities for manual speed selection and to disable the automatic speed adjustment mechanism when a desired turntable playing speed is manually selected. Such an arrangement permits the playing of records such as the seven inch 33% r.p.m. record which is not now commercially offered, while retaining all of the advantages of automatic speed selection for convention record sizes andpspeeds, as described in detail in my above identilied copending application.

It is, therefore, another important object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic record changer wherein the turntable speed is automatically adjusted in accordance with the size of the record deposited on the turntable while, at the same time, permitting the speed of the turntable to be manually ad- 

